fashion. She was particularly kind to all Americans,--barring, I fear, a
few pretty-faced, finely-frocked title-hunters,--told stories of the
Far West, and had theories of a people of which they knew little, cared
less, and believed to be vulgar. But I think she found a new pleasure in
the old church at Ashley Grange, and loved to linger over the effigy of
the old Crusader,--her kinsman, the swashbuckler De Bracy,--with a vague
but pretty belief that devotion and love do not die with brave men, but
live and flourish even in lands beyond the seas.
TWO AMERICANS
Perhaps if there was anything important in the migration of the Maynard
family to Europe it rested solely upon the singular fact that Mr.
Maynard did not go there in the expectation of marrying his daughter to
a nobleman. A Charleston merchant, whose house represented two honorable
generations, had, thirty years ago, a certain self-respect which did
not require extraneous aid and foreign support, and it is exceedingly
probable that his intention of spending a few years abroad had no
ulterior motive than pleasure seeking and the observation of many
things--principally of the past--which his own country did not possess.
His future and that of his family lay in his own land, yet with
practical common sense he adjusted himself temporarily to his new
surroundings. In doing so, he had much to learn of others, and others
had something to learn of him; he found that the best people had a
high simplicity equal to his own; he corrected their impressions that a
Southerner had more or less negro blood in his veins, and that, although
a slave owner, he did not necessarily represent an aristocracy. With a
distinguishing dialect of which he was not ashamed, a frank familiarity
of approach joined to an invincible courtesy of manner, which made even
his republican "Sir" equal to the ordinary address to royalty, he
was always respected and seldom misunderstood. When he was--it was
unfortunate for those who misunderstood him. His type was as distinctive
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